1940: Over 500 men between the ages of 20 and 23 registered for 'call-up' at the Peterborough Labour Exchange on this Saturday. Of these only five registered a conscientious objection. In the end 490 actually signed up. 64 with the Navy and 130 with the RAF. The rest offered no definite preference. Not surprisingly, bearing in mind the industrial landscape of Peterborough, there was more than the usual number of recruits who were in reserved occupations - mainly engineering. (Gray, David, Peterborough at War 1939-1945, David Gray, 2011)
Taken from The Peterborough Book of Days by Brian Jones, The History Press, 2014.
A call was made by the Justices of the Peace for Peterborough for plans and specifications to build a new gaol for Peterborough in 1839. The Cambridge Independent Press claimed that the plans of Mr Douthorn of Hanover Street, Hanover Square, London, were chosen and the site was proposed to be 'at the Upper end of Westgate (known as Gravel Close)', but this was not to be the case. 1
A alternate site was suggested on Thorpe Road, but a complicated legal battle ensued over the cost of proposed new land, with the Dean and Chapter fighting the Magistrates of the Liberty of Peterborough to claim fair remuneration for the land they needed to sell them for the gaol. 2
Although the first stone was laid for the gaol in 1840, the first group of prisoners didn't move in until 1844. The first petty sessions held in the new gaol were on Saturday 23rd February 1844, but it was unpopular with the judges who complained at having to walk such a distance to the court rooms! 3
1,Cambridge Independent Press, Saturday 14th December 1839, p3,
2, Lincolnshire Chronicle Friday 17th April 1840 p4,
3, Cambridge Independent Press, Saturday 2nd March 1844, p 3,
In 1536 a Tudor house called Neville Place was built by Humphrey Orme, who was a courtier of Henry VIII. The house was built on the land where the current museum is. The Ormes were important in Peterborough for over 250 years. They were Members of Parliament, Magistrates and also Feoffees. They were royalist during the English Civil War and were involved in the building of the Guildhall after the Restoration.
Note: the building of Neville Place in 1536 is currently disputed because Humphrey Orme rented the manor of West Deeping in that year. Written evidence of the Ormes living in Priestgate does not appear until the early 17th Century when they were living in a cottage next to Neville's Orchard.
In 1536 a Tudor house called Neville Place was built by Humphrey Orme, w…